Our effort to assist families with undocumented parents of U.S. born children involves a four-fold strategy:

1

Solicit churches along both sides of the border to "adopt" deported families and provide assistance to them.

This strategy identifies families on either side of the border that would provide support for the "adopted children." On the U. S. side, a family would be asked to take in a U. S. -born child into their home and provide care for them during the school week. This would enable the children to pursue their education through the public schools of a particular state.

On the Mexican side, a family would be asked to provide temporary shelter and assist the undocumented members of the "adopted" family in obtaining employment and locating a permanent place to live.

2

Through national networking, raise public awareness of the plight of almost three million children.

The goal is to develop information about the impact of deportation of parents of U. S. - born children and share it with advocacy groups, news agencies, and elected officials. Our website will feature real cases of families impacted by the current policy.

3

Press for priority status for these families in future federal legislation and call for a moratorium on the deportation of parents of U. S.-born children.

Through networking with others as outlined above we will urge for an immediate end to the policy of dismantling families with children who are citizens.

Our society and government have long standing policies that seek to protect families. The current enforcement policy is often destructive of families. The current immigration debate needs to address the deportation of twelve million undocumented immigrants, which is likely impractical and would harm our economy.

Federal legislation is expected to be enacted during the next Congress, and we urge that undocumented parents of U. S.- born children be given priority status for legalization. Pursuing the current policy serves no useful purpose other than to destroy families and traumatize innocent children. Thus, we ask for a moratorium on any further deportation of undocumented parents who have native-born children pending enactment of federal legislation.

4

Pursue legal remedies on behalf of these children.

Some legal experts believe that the current policy violates the constitutional rights of the children who are citizens and that states where the children reside may incur liability for the cost of caring for the children, whether in this country or in the country to which the parents are deported. We encourage research in these areas and urge those in the legal community to provide pro bono representation for the affected families.